It was interesting to see Joseph Schwartz' question about recommended perakim for middle school Talmud just after reading David Stein's Lehrhaus article "Curriculum, Crisis, and Change: Towards a Talmud Curriculum Grounded in Educational Theory" -[
www.thelehrhaus.com]
Stein describes the "spiral curriculum" that he played a role in developing for the Shalhevet High School in Los Angeles, CA. Arguing for a curriculum that is more responsive to the developmental needs of students, he writes:
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Make no mistake: learning masekhet Berakhot freshman year, Kiddushin sophomore year, followed by Bava Kamma and Bava Metzia in junior and senior year is not a curriculum; it’s an advanced and sacred booklist, and teaching it in high school is the equivalent of asking a ninth grader to learn differential equations before he or she has mastered algebra.
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For Lookjed readers who have not seen the article, it is worth spending a few minutes to read. Among other things, Stein explains why certain topics are chosen to be part of the curriculum, given the school's Modern Orthodox identity (a recent Lookjed discussion).
He writes:
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It should therefore be emphasized that the issues identified above in our curriculum are expressions of the specific milieu of a Modern Orthodox school and its parent body, including a commitment to openness, critical thinking, the values of gender equality and Zionism, as well as the development of a meaningful relationship with God and Torah learning.
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Sasson
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/15/2017 07:16PM by mlb.
